Mark Twain said one time, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore – Dream - Discover.”
In 1852, an eighteen year old from Scotland did just that. With fifty dollars, he set out to pursue a new life in the land of opportunity. By 1899 he had become a lumber baron who procured tracts of pristine timberlands in East Texas and Louisiana and operated over sixty retail lumberyards in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma with assets near $4 million. With inflation, $4 million back then would be like $100 million today.
Like Mark Twain said, we need to sail away from the safe harbor. We need to aspire for objectives that are helpful and good for everyone. I once heard a story of a young girl who planted one yellow flower in a field. Twenty years later, the field was covered with yellow flowers. The lesson is that we should take advantage of the chance to be generous and plant our flowers because there is no assurance that the opportunity will persist. We should act out of love with no expectation of anything in return.
The lumber baron mentioned above died in 1899 and his heirs gave a one-hundred acre tract of land to the city in his memory. In 1910, the city turned it into a park and the family donated more land during the next few decades, expanding the park to its current 416 acres. In 1993, a 52-acre zoo opened within the park. Cameron Park Zoo in Waco Texas is a natural habitat zoo that has grown steadily in size and reputation providing great memories for all that visit.
No comments:
Post a Comment